PA Auto Insurance:Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Required Coverage:

None

Our Minimum Recommendation:

$15,000.00 per person$30,000.00 per occurrence

Even though Pennsylvania law requires all registered motor vehicles to be insured, about 7% of the cars on the road are uninsured. This number is much higher in the Philadelphia area. That means that approximately 1 out of 14 vehicles on the road with you at any given time are uninsured. Again, this figure is higher in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Additionally, if you are the victim of a hit-and-run accident in which the responsible driver is never found, that driver is deemed to be uninsured.

Consider that there were 121,312 motor vehicle accidents in Pennsylvania in 2010. Statistically, approximately 1 in 14 of the vehicles involved in those accidents was uninsured. Add to that the reality that, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly 1 in 10 car accidents in the U.S. are hit-and-run encounters. Taken together, the odds are staggering that if you are in a car accident in Pennsylvania, the other driver will be uninsured under the law.

As frightening as this is, you have the power to protect yourself. If you have Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage, your insurance company will step in and pay all your recoverable damages up to the limit of your coverage, should an uninsured driver injure you.

Be careful not to sign a waiver giving up this very powerful protection. While not required under Pennsylvania law, UM coverage is vital to protecting you from the many irresponsible drivers with whom you share the road. You simply cannot afford not to have it. For that reason, we recommend you purchase the highest level of UM coverage you can afford, with a minimum of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per occurrence.

If you have further questions about this or any other aspect of Pennsylvania Automobile Insurance, please do not hesitate to contact Gary Stewart Seflin by calling 610-892-9700 or by filling out our contact form.